Reuters: “Lost cameras ‘phone home’ to catch thieves”

The two crooks that took Alison DeLauzon’s camera after she accidentally left it unattended in a restaurant were nabbed after the card automatically uploaded photos that they’d taken of themselves with the stolen camera to the owner’s photo sharing site.

Based on our experience with the Eye-Fi, the odds of such an occurence seem pretty low. Apparently, the hapless thieves happened to turn the camera on in range of an unsecured wireless network, which happened to be configured like the owner’s home network.

Though it’s probably not a safe bet to trust that your Eye-Fi card will serve as an impromptu LoJack, thieves should still be advised: if you’re not sure what or whom the camera you just stole might be communicating with, self portraits probably aren’t a good idea.